it's alot of things in bulk---I can't think of anything off the top of my head, and I may be incorrect but let me just use the example of, say, napkins.

We buy napkins at the dollar store---$1.00 for 250 napkins. At costco, you can buy a billion napkins for $7.00. But you're still paying more per napkin than you would if you just bought a billion napkins at the dollar store at $1.00/250 napkins.

Buying in bulk (either at costco, or in the 'value packs' at the store) CAN save money IN SOME CASES---but not in all.

That's why we take a calculator to the store with us---not to tally up our shopping total as we go along---but rather to see if the "value packs" really are the value that they claim to be

Finding the food line at Costco being of better quality (especially fresh meats and vegs) I make room in freezer and cupboards for buying in quantity when I can get to a store. Not one in my town. Costco is the best for reimbursing for anything faulty or unuseable. Since it seems that a lot of people will believe "anything" without considering any fact, it is no wonder that consumer products take every advantage. If someone thinks we really have a president of the US today they are likely open to buying silk TP at $20 a roll!

Ziploc Bags, Plastic Wrap, and Aluminum Foil---those were things that we would nearly go to Target every week to buy.

At target, we were spending $2.00 for 100 off-brand "Ziploc" bags. We spend $7 for 1500 "name brand Ziploc Bags" at Costco, and they last FOREVER.

we were also going through alot of plastic wrap (we, too, buy meat & veggies in bulk and cook in bulk and use alot in freezing items) Again, we were going to Target weekly or bi-monthly to replace the few-hundred-square feet of Saran Wrap at $3.00 or so a box.

BUT--we went to Costco TWO YEARS AGO (not exaggerating in the least!) and bought a few hundred thousand feet roll of Restaurant-quality plastic wrap for about $7, and we use it just as much as we ever did, and we're not even 1/4 of the way through the roll. I imagine that roll will be around when kingdom comes!

We do the same with dish detergetnt and aluminum foil---buying those kinds of "always going to use them" products in bulk may cost a bit upfront if you buy them all at once, but it not only saves you $$ that you would spend buying shorter-quantity at the store, but it saves us TRIPS to the store as well.

taking advantage of the fact that many people think that buying in larger quantities always results in lower unit cost.

With different sheet sizes (of paper products generally), number per roll and quality, making an informed decision is non-trivial. Of course, the suppliers wish only to make maximum profits and rigging the game in this way is part and parcel of this process.

Myself, I have noticed the disappearance of "seconds" labels from the grocery outlet stores that I shop, even when the products clearly seem to be so... once they have been purchased.

what has happened to cans of condensed soup (because it is so obvious). These have gotten steadily smaller for years.

And to think that people are making good money for thinking up all these deceptions.

This is the real face of the modern American economy... along with all the high-powered marketing trying to make the consumer purchase stuff based on advertising alone -- and without even considering alternatives.

21. Order up some "Shit Be Gone" paper.. they are liberal, and they deliver

Edited on Mon Jan-10-05 04:41 PM by SoCalDem

This is NOT a joke item.. It's real, shipping cost is included in price....but...

Red State Embargo ContinuesExceptions available.

Economic embargo on Red States continues

Because of their support for war, terrorism, and backwards social and human rights policies, ShitBegone.com no longer recognizes those U.S. States which voted to re-elect George W. Bush. Our Economic Embargo on the Red States will continue until further notice.

Individual Red State customers, who are actively engaged in resisting the Iraq war or other specific Bush administration policies, are invited to apply for exceptions via email. Applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. If an exception is granted, you will be given instructions on how to order off-line by check or credit card.

Don't use coupons the first 2 weeks that they come out of the newspaper (you know the coupon packs in the SUnday Paper)---

A friend of mine was a buyer for grocery stores in the southeast for a number of years, and the stores would know what items were going to be "couponed" in that week's paper---so they would hold off on "sale" or "discount" prices for those items for one, and generally two weeks after that item appeared in the paper.

So clip your coupons on Sunday, but don't use them for at least three weeks. Generally (not always), you'll see that the first two weeks after the coupons are printed, the prices are the same, if not HIGHER, than they were the week or so before. However, after that 2-week period, the price goes down and you can get the product cheaper

Ex: Let's say you have a coupon for $.75 off of a box of detergent. Pre-coupon days (the weeks and months before that coupon comes out), the detergent is reguarly priced for $3.00 a bottle. However, during the 'coupon period', magically, the price of THAT degertent will go up by .25 or .50 a bottle....so you're getting money off, but not as MUCH as you would if you wait. They do that on purpose so they don't 'lose' so much on the retail price vs wholesale price. But, if you wait a few weeks, you'll see that the detergent (generally) will go back down to $3.00 or even lower.

That was her little spheil to me, as much as that's worth.

Oh! And another thing: For people who are "brand name junkies" and CANNOT do without a "Brand Name" because store brand or generic "just isn't the same"---IT *IS* the same as the brand name.

I think my friend said that somewhere between 75-80% of store brand products are actuall MADE by the 'name brand' companies, and is the exact same recipe as used in the name brand version. I know that in the SOuth, Harris-Teeter brand ketchup and Food Lion Ketchup were both made by Heinz and were the total same exact product as Heinz Ketchup, only $2 cheaper a bottle!

So don't get hung up on name brands! Buy the store brand and chances are quite high that you're getting a name brand but with a different label.

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